Why do people still buy MS Office?

[Thunder_Ruler0]

My college just gave all of its students the ability to download full MS Office on their computers using a school account and I've been trying to use it for the past month and a half but I can't shake off one feeling. Why would anyone pay to use MS Office?

 

I understand that from a feature standpoint, it's "ahead" of really any other program with some like some the following (from what I've seen in the past month):

• Inserting 3D paint models into your word document
• being able to draw over whatever you want
• Having the best researching tool that I've seen built into any word program
• having the best built in grammer, spelling, and thesaurus panels of any office programs and so on.

and of course this excludes skype for buisness (which i think is trash), Outlook (which I also feel isn't as good as Gmail), and other programs that I have yet to use because I don't see a reason for it.

 

But a program like Google Docs works offline like office (in Google Chrome) and still is so much easier to use since it's not crammed with features. Not everyone needs to shove a 3D model of a Rover into their Notes page. Even then there are simple things like not taking space in your own online storage service that's provided with the account (Word documents in office take up space in onedrive unlike google docs that never take up space in google drive). Not to mention because it's free and almost everyone has a Google account, which means that all of those people GDocs which also makes it stupid easy to work on the same document with multiple people.

[PlayStation 2]

A lot of it is simply down to integration with Windows and familiarity. The office products from Google integrate well within Chrome, ChromeOS and Android, but Microsoft Office is very well integrated not just into Windows, but works pretty well with macOS.

Oh, also, not everyone uses Chrome for the point of Google office products working offline; almost everyone uses either Windows or macOS, on the contrary.

[KarathKasun]

Its the industry standard, that is why.

 

Also, Microsoft Access.

 

Third, Google docs is trash if you need to print anything and Google sheets SUCKS if you need to do any advanced scripting.

[Enderman]

Because plenty of people actually do real work that requires a standard professional program like word, excel, or latex.

These programs have far more features than google's options, and are industry standard.

If someone sends you a word document and you edit it with google docs, when you export it as docx things can shift around and look different when you reopen it in word.

[flibberdipper]

Quote

(Word documents in office take up space in onedrive unlike google docs that never take up space in google drive)

If this is a problem then you need to seriously re-evaluate your storage methods.

[Evanair]

Google Docs is a nightmare in terms of reliability and "just working"

 

Besides being an industry standard, it's also got the "just work" thing down. When doing professional products, you don't want to have to rely on the internet for your files, or a browser for your documents. It's just unprofessional.

[Thunder_Ruler0]

1 minute ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

A lot of it is simply down to integration with Windows and familiarity. The office products from Google integrate well within Chrome, ChromeOS and Android, but Microsoft Office is very well integrated not just into Windows, but works pretty well with macOS.

I mean how well is it really intergrated? Google Docs is intergrated the same through out all operating systems, I simply mentioned the chrome part because there's just two things that you can do with any other browser which is pasting with the mouse and using dictation. 50% of the time you spend on your computer is probably on your browser regardless. I just can open a new tab between work that I am doing and what I am reading without needing to worry about loosing any work at all.

 

Quote

Oh, also, not everyone uses Chrome for the point of Google office products working offline; almost everyone uses either Windows or macOS, on the contrary.

I don't understand what you're trying to say here.

[flibberdipper]

1 minute ago, Evanair said:

Google Docs is a nightmare in terms of reliability and "just working"

 

Besides being an industry standard, it's also got the "just work" thing down. When doing professional products, you don't want to have to rely on the internet for your files, or a browser for your documents. It's just unprofessional.

Can confirm, using it in high school was such a dumpsterfire that I stopped using my school-issued Chromebook and starting bringing my laptop with Office on it.

[PlayStation 2]

Also, Google Docs is literal aids in the performance department. That's what happens when you try to make presentations using a web browser.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

I don't get it either. I use a Mac and pages, numbers and keynote are free... they're Mac exclusive apps of course but still. 

 

I only have Office installed on my Mac because I could get it from school like you did... 

[KarathKasun]

4 minutes ago, Thunder_Ruler0 said:

I mean how well is it really intergrated? Google Docs is intergrated the same through out all operating systems, I simply mentioned the chrome part because there's just two things that you can do with any other browser which is pasting with the mouse and using dictation. 50% of the time you spend on your computer is probably on your browser regardless. I just can open a new tab between work that I am doing and what I am reading without needing to worry about loosing any work at all.

If you are asking this honestly, you do not use ANY advanced office features in a professional environment.

Excel for example can read the contents of any other spreadsheet file on any drive you have permissions for.  Same for word.  This makes interconnected workbooks an absolute breeze to work with compared to Sheets.

 

Marcos and scripting are done in native VBS and VB code, the same language used to build pretty much all basic Windows GUI apps.

 

Until you actually try to use Office applications for more than "I need to write that English paper", you will not understand.

[handymanshandle]

I really like MS Office, more than Apple's iWork Suite (I think that's what it's called), Google Drive/Docs and LibreOffice

Outlook is another thing that I think makes MS office worth it to some

[aezakmi]

I don't buy it so that means I'm not people? xx

[handymanshandle]

1 minute ago, pinksnowbirdie said:

I really like MS Office, more than Apple's iWork Suite (I think that's what it's called), Google Drive/Docs and LibreOffice

Outlook is another thing that I think makes MS office worth it to some

Oh and I just re-read OP because I skimmed it, and I see you mention outlook...

 

Well for a dedicated desktop app that pushes notifications to your desktop, gmail really isn't there for that @Thunder_Ruler0

I have my gmail account connected to Outlook, fwiw it's kinda nice. I just wished at least in this version of the program it would allow you to have it come up as a start up program, minimized.

[jpenguin]

Because it's what they're use too and because LibreOffice,while capable, is not 100% compatible with M$ formats.  98% of the time Office docs open fine in LibreOffice, but no one wants to deal with the few that don't.

PS-- IMO, Zoho docs is better than GDocs

[Thunder_Ruler0]

17 minutes ago, tmcclelland455 said:

If this is a problem then you need to seriously re-evaluate your storage methods.

How so? I don't want to carry a flash drive around even when I need to present something or really at all If I can be guaranteed that I'll never loose the files to begin with. If Microsoft offers to store my files online so that I can access it whenever that's great, but if google offers the same thing without using any space which means I can upload unlimited documents (including MS word documents mind you).

 

Why do I have to reconsider my storage solution?

[KarathKasun]

3 minutes ago, Thunder_Ruler0 said:

How so? I don't want to carry a flash drive around even when I need to present something or really at all If I can be guaranteed that I'll never loose the files to begin with. If Microsoft offers to store my files online so that I can access it whenever that's great, but if google offers the same thing without using any space which means I can upload unlimited documents (including MS word documents mind you).

 

Why do I have to reconsider my storage solution?

Just remember, if you ever do pro work, that Google owns everything on your Google drive.

[Thunder_Ruler0]

1 minute ago, KarathKasun said:

Just remember, if you ever do pro work, that Google owns everything on your Google drive.

Prove it

[KarathKasun]

Just now, Thunder_Ruler0 said:

Prove it

Read the TOS.  Google reserves the right to use any of your content for any purpose.

[flibberdipper]

6 minutes ago, Thunder_Ruler0 said:

How so? I don't want to carry a flash drive around even when I need to present something or really at all If I can be guaranteed that I'll never loose the files to begin with. If Microsoft offers to store my files online so that I can access it whenever that's great, but if google offers the same thing without using any space which means I can upload unlimited documents (including MS word documents mind you).

 

Why do I have to reconsider my storage solution?

If a few KB per document is a problem, you have some storage problems. I didn't think I would have to expand upon that because I felt it was pretty damn straight forward, but apparently critical thinking skillz don't exist.

[Guest]

When people are buying a product they need something reliable and tested, as well as fully compatible. Office does all of those very well.

[Guest]

The problem with your thought process is that you are taking a look at a fraction of the capability of Office and deciding no one needs it. There are all kinds of reasons Office is the industry standard. More than anyone can list in a thread. If Office is not for you, it is simply not for you. The use and cultivation of other platforms is important though. Choice is never something you want to lose.

[givingtnt]

1 hour ago, Thunder_Ruler0 said:

-snip-

Ms office is an industry standard.
there are many more apps than ppt,wrd & exl.
Projects, acess, one note, publisher and hell, yeah, even skype for buisness are very much usefull and work great for an office environement.

also, if you're already on windows (aka 99.999999% of buisnesses) why add in another company ?
why bother with google if you don't need to ?

+, like google, you get one drive storage, you can all work on a single document (live editing like docs).
so not really an advantage on google here.

 

and if word documents are too large for you.. I have no words.

 

 

also, exel allows for things docs doesn't.

I created a shooting range performance meter in exel, docs can't handle it.

[Zando_]

1 hour ago, KarathKasun said:

Third, Google docs is trash if you need to print anything and Google sheets SUCKS if you need to do any advanced scripting.

It sucks for even pretty basic formulas and even basic use like inserting columns and such if you're like me and work mostly in Excel. It's annoyingly similar yet totally different, like they tried to dumb it down for people who have never used any spreadsheet software, while making it suck for people who have even done pretty basic stuff in excel. 

[Thunder_Ruler0]

1 minute ago, tmcclelland455 said:

If a few KB per document is a problem, you have some storage problems. I didn't think I would have to expand upon that because I felt it was pretty damn straight forward, but apparently critical thinking skillz don't exist.

The average size for my documents hover around 2-7 MB not KB like you're suggesting. Why would I pay more than $70 yearly for a program just to type KB of stuff? Anyways, what critical thinking 'skillz' do I seem to be missing? You still haven't said one thing that would justify spending $150 once, or $70 a year on a word processor (yes I know it has other things but I'm talking about Word, Excel and Powerpoint).

 

You mentioned that using google docs back in high school was a trash fire. What was so bad about it? I don't see anything straightforward in any of your comments so far.